SAO: Tale of the Shadow
by DaKage
Summary: Sword Art Online, the first VRMMO. I thought it would just be another MMO, another game to play with my friends. From the moment this Death Game became real, I've only had one goal: Get Out. This is my story, my journey, through the world of Aincrad. Cannon pairings, cameos by the entire SAO cast, believable OCs. M for language and violence.


Author's note:

Because of the lack of information given to the reader/viewers of SAO, some stats, skills, and information will be created by myself.

As this is my first time writing any sort of story in several years, please excuse the slow start, it might take a few chapters to get back to a comfortable level of writing.

I in no way own Sword Art Online. I am just a writer playing in another universe.

* * *

It was funny, I thought, that only a few short months ago I was just like any other MMO Gamer. I enjoyed the daily grind, the quests, the guilds, all of it made pixels on a screen seem so alive. I, like so many others, had practically salivated at the thought of an MMORPG where we would finally get the chance to actually hold a sword, interact with others, and be part of a huge world. All without using a keyboard, a mouse, or even a screen.

Sword Art Online, SAO for short, the most talked about MMO, well, ever. It's creator, Kayaba Akihiko, was a genius. He had created a new gaming system, the NerveGear. A device capable of interrupting between the mind and the body and instead translate every single one into a virtual world of his creation. Even when the story broke that it was only just being developed people had already claimed it as the next gold rush. Other companies had been researching the technologies for years, but none were even close to this level of immersion, to actually be able to feel every action as you made it... suffice to say many pre-orders had gone out for the newest in gaming technology.

I had been lucky enough to work at a gaming store when the word came down for beta testers. I had immediately grabbed two. It was a little selfish I admit, abusing my ability to know exactly when a game would come out to sneak my way in. It was a great chance, and with only 1000 invites going out we knew we had to take advantage of it. So, just like all the other beta testers, we helped clear floor after floor, realizing that this game would take years to clear. We didn't mind, we knew we had plenty of time around work, school, social gathering, we may lag behind the raid groups, but it was all about having fun anyway.

I sighed, glancing to my left. My best friend, it felt like years since we'd put on our NerveGear for the first time. It was all so perfect though, the lights, the smells, I could even feel the grass crunch under my feet. I sincerely wished I had never bought the damn thing.

Even after the beta ended and we were told we'd be back at square one, back with all the people who had to wait for the official launch, it was worth it. We were going be part of only 10,000 people who would get into the game on the first run. Looking back that was a big tip off. No game ran 10,000 copies and then shut off pre-orders, it just didn't make sense. At the time however... well we just felt stupidly lucky. So I had sat there, in my apartment, counting down the seconds till I could dive in.

As the clock struck one I closed my eyes and let out a small breath.

"Link start!"

My eyes seemed to open on their own as a whirlwind of color flashed before me. Finally several rings popped up, five in all, and verified that all my senses were now sending correctly. A language select flashed by, then finally the login screen. Since my entire NerveGear was already set up to run I quickly made it back to the character creation screen.

'Beta Character Data Detected! Would you like to use this data?'

Hitting yes I was immediately bathed in a bright, white light.

- November 6th, 2022 1:05 PM -

I grinned as I softly padded across the grass. The clear blue skies and light winds blue my long blond hair behind my ears, showing sky blue eyes and soft, regal features. I had modeled my avatar partly after myself, as I had a tendency to do with RPGs. It always made me feel more involved if I could actually see myself in my avatar. With a yawn I stretched both hands over my head and then brought them back down, stretching as I went. Back in Aincrad at last. I brought my right hand up, quickly swiping it down i opened my menu. Going through I tweaked my settings back to just how I like them. Finishing up with a soft chime I closed my menu and looked around. So far it looked liked I was alone at my spawn. That was fine, soon thousands would be logging in and I needed to get to my friends.

It took almost twenty minutes to locate the agreed upon spot for all of us to meet. I arrived first, the small hill that looked down on «Starting City» gave me good view of anyone coming. I could already see flashes of light and the sound of breaking glass as I watched other players begin to grind away at their first level. I sighed as I flopped down onto the grass, letting a handful fill my fingers before i pulled it free and brought it in front of my face. Each blade fluttered in the wind as I opened my hand, then evaporated in blue light as their durability ran out.

"Still amazed by grass of all things I see."

My head popped up at the voice, looking down my chest I let out a small chuckle. My friend, my beat tester friend to be exact, was standing there, arms crossed as he looked me over.

"You kept your avatar and name?"

He asked, honey colored eyes watching me. I nodded once then pushed myself up, looking him over. He had changed his avatar a bit. His hair was a deep red color, like rust, and he stood a good three inches over me. He was clearly going to be a strength based character if I had to guess. I was falling back on my preferred style, speed. He was almost six foot three inches here, in real life we were much closer to the same height.

"Yeah, I saw no reason to change what ain't broke."

He snorted at my answer and waved me towards our favorite hunting grounds. Along the way we spotted a couple of old acquaintances other Beta testers who were claiming old grounds. Since both of us would be using one handed swords again we decided to skip going to town and just focus on raising our skill and our levels.

Speaking of... I raised my right hand, sliding it down as i continued to trail my partner. I quickly slid «One Handed Straight Sword» into my first open slot, then scrolled down and grabbed «Sprint» as my second. I noticed him own screen ahead of me and took a few quick steps and watched him manage his own skills over his shoulder. «One Hand Straight Sword» and «Battle Healing» quickly filled his slots and I frowned a bit.

"Why are you already taking Battle Healing»? I thought you normally took it at 12?"

He grunted and slid his menu closed.

"Last time it was raising to slowly for my taste, I'd rather start now and take Light Metal Equip» later. At least then I will have the sword skills and HP to afford a weaker shield."

I shrugged in response and kicked off hard, flying past him as I began to train my own «Sprint» skill.

- November 6th, 2022 5:00 PM -

I grumbled as I flipped my sword into a back handed grip and waited. My friend slashed across the frenzied wild boar in front of us and quickly slid back, allowing me to «Switch» in and deal the death blow, a single slash across the boar's eyes sent the mob scattering into tiny points of blue light.

Almost totally ignoring the «Battle Result» screen I pocketed the Col, EXP, and items, just some trash mats at this point, and sighed. We'd been out here for five hours or so, repeatedly working in a tight circle. We were farming not only mats, but levels and Col here. While «Wild Boar» weren't the best for farming, their slightly higher level brothers, the «Frenzied Wild Boar», were a much better mob to farm. Sliding my sword away I opened my menu, quickly tabbed the «Inventory/Equipment» panel and then opened the «Skills» page. I whistled appreciatively as I read my new stats.

Level: 3

STR:2

AGI:7

One Handed Straight Sword: 20

Sprint: 12

I grimaced slightly at my sprint, I would need to spend some time running between towns to boost that more. Sliding my hand up I checked my inventory space and frowned, I only had room for two more items, at best, and I was sitting at 95% weight limit. I quickly sorted my inventory, setting potions and any weapon drops near the top. I quickly did a bit of math and figured I had another couple hundred Col in trash mats.

"Hey, let's head back to «Starting City»."

I said as I closed the menu, the same soft chime sounding across the field. As he finished off another frenzied wild boar I sheathed my own blade. He turned to me, nodded once, and sheathed his own weapon. It was a bit surreal now that I thought about it, that we'd just spent five straight hours doing the same thing over and over, only to be looking at two, almost three, levels of experience. This wasn't the first time we'd done such a grind in an MMORPG, we'd spent seven hours grinding before, and that was an average grind.

Stretching out a bit I grinned as I looked back at my companion, his head down as he worked through his own menu I whistled sharply, grabbing his attention.

"I'll be in town, main plaza, at 5:30."

He grumbled something about sprint being broken and nodded. With another grin I kicked off, letting the system assist pull me into my skill. I gave a whoop of joy as I flashed across the landscape, making a straight line for «Starting City». What would normally take five minutes I cleared in just over four, panting a bit as I stopped at the gates.

All around me players gave me a glance, some, clearly Beta Testers, didn't seem to give me a second thought. Others, new players, stared a moment and then began to chat amongst themselves. One, a girl a few inches shorter than me with bright blond hair bounced over, a clear look of wonder on her face.

"How did you run so fast?"

She asked, a cute turn of her head accompanying the question.

"It's easy. You just have to use the «Sprint» skill. The higher your sprint, the faster you can run. Agility, or AGI, helps improve your movement speed as well."

She nodded, looking genuinely interested in my explanation.

"Ohhh... what are skills?"

My hand came up, fingers pinching the bridge of my nose as I closed my eyes.

"Have you ever played an RPG?"

I asked, one eye now opening to look at the girl. She shook her head, long blond hair whipping about her face.

"No, my brother got this game. He has a club tonight and said I could try it out while he was gone."

I grimaced slightly and nodded at the explanation. Makes sense, with only ten thousand copies out people were bound to share their NerveGear with friends and family. I looked her up and down a moment, thinking if I had time to explain to this girl at least the basics. I figured if nothing else my friend wouldn't mind me being a few minutes late.

"Alright, I'll try and keep this as simple as I can, come here."

I brought my hand down, pinching my index finger and thumb together I slashed down, the familiar chime sounding as the menu appeared. I quickly jumped into my settings and set it to public view, so the girl could follow along.

"This is the menu, basically anything about you, your equipment, or the game can be found here."

I quickly showed her the five category options: inventory/equipment, friends/guild, messaging/chat, maps/quest, settings/main-menu.

"Inventory and equipment also hold the locations of any skills you might have. It's a bit weird, most games put skills/stats under one tab, but I guess it's a design choice."

She nodded, following along easily with the visual guide I gave her. I hit the button for «Inventory/Equipment» and let her see the three screens under that. I quickly hit the «Skills» option and let that expand. It showed my current skills and, after clicking each one, showed a short description of what each did. She nodded again, clearly having no trouble so far. Quickly pulling back out to the main option I gestured to the main area, showing a grayed out figure with arms and legs spread. My stats showed along the bottom, gear in the spot it was designed to cover.

"This main area will show you all your stats and any gear you currently have equipped. Unlike most games SAO will count any items you equip as part of your carried weight, meaning the heavier your armor the less loot you can carry."

She furrowed her brow a bit.

"Loot?"

I nodded once and tabbed back to my inventory.

"Yeah, anytime you defeat a mob, enemy, it will drop three things. Experience, also called EXP, loot, also called items, and Col. Col is the currency of Aincrad. Most items are what people consider 'trash', meaning they have very little value except maybe as a crafting material once you have that skill."

She frowned a bit, her mind working out the explanation as I began going back through the menus until I finally reached the home screen.

"As for logging out and any preferences you might want to change, just go to this «Settings/Main-menu» tab."

I quickly showed her how to change the screen settings between public and private, how to modify the settings so they worked just right for her, and then I hit the «Log Out» option. I let out a soft 'Hmm' as I saw the log out button was currently missing.

"Must be a glitch, I'm sure it's already being fixed."

I closed out my menu after setting it back to private and turned to face the girl.

"Any more questions?"

I asked with a smile. I enjoyed helping new players, I never forgot that no matter how many games I may have played, there were those out there just beginning their journey into the world of gaming and MMOs.

"No.. I.. I think I understand enough to make it on my own now. Thank you!"

She bowed quickly, thanking me again as I waved a hand.

"Ahh it was nothing."

She tilted her head to the side again, frowning a bit.

"So... how exactly do I see your name?"

I flushed a bit, completely forgetting that you couldn't see someone's name unless they introduced themselves.

"Oh lord, sorry, my name is Yukio. Pleasure to meet you."

She smiled, pearl white teeth flashing in the evening sun.

"Nice to meet you Yukio-san, my name is Fumikaze!"

Her name appeared floating under her health bar, showing that we had met properly. I quickly slid open my menu and sent her a friend request. I saw the translucent screen appear before her and she hit the little green 'accept' icon.

"There, now if you have any more questions you can just message me."

She gave a smile and a wave.

"Thanks again Yukio-san, see you around!"

I watched her run off, heading out into the fields to begin leveling up. A small smile graced my lips as my hands slid into my pockets. Whistling a random tune I headed towards the nearest vendor.

Stepping into a random shop I quickly sold off my trash items and a few of the weaker weapons that had dropped. Checking my inventory again I saw that I now had about 80% of my inventory free. My Col had also spiked up, now resting at 10,016. Checking the store items I sighed, I had walked into a food vendor, so there was absolutely nothing I needed here. Closing out the menu I turned and headed back onto the street. As my foot hit the pavement a blue light shot up around me.

"What the fu-"

- November 6th, 2022 5:30 PM -

-ck!"

I blinked, looking around I was standing in the main plaza. All around me hundreds, no there had to be thousands, of other players were just as confused. My brow furrowed as I began to push my way through, looking for any familiar faces. I couldn't find my friend, or Fumikaze. Suddenly the entire area was bathed in red light, small screens enclosing the plaza that read 'System Message'. From these screens it almost seemed like blood poured out, soon forming a red robed figure. His metallic male voice boomed across the plaza, shaking all of us into watching him.

**"Players, I welcome you to my World."**

The figure was huge, easily five stories and floating slightly off the ground. His massive arms were spread open, almost as if he were about to pull all of us in. I grew a little excited, was this some sort of welcome event? Maybe that's why no one could log out, we all needed to be here for this event?

**"My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and right now, I am the one and only person who can control this world."**

I blinked in surprise. He was the only GM? The creator of the game was going to try and single handedly run the entire thing? That seemed a bit absurd, surely he would have to have at least one other person. No one could stay in SAO 24/7 could they?

**"I'm sure you've already noticed that the Log Out button is missing from the Main Menu. However… this is not a game malfunction. I repeat. This is not a malfunction, but an original feature of «Sword Art Online»."**

My mouth went dry, hands clenched at my sides. Was this guy insane?

"**You cannot Log Out of SAO on your own. No one on the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should these things be attempted... the transmitter inside your NerveGear will emit a powerful burst of microwave radiation, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."**

Total silence followed, you could have heard a pin drop as everyone stared in horror at the man before us.

**"Unfortunately, the friends and family members of several players have ignored these warnings and attempted to remove the NerveGear. The result is 213 players have permanently died in both Aincrad, and the real world."**

Dozens of windows opened up around the plaza, showing news agencies and live streams of people being rushed to hospitals and announcements that Kayaba Akihiko had trapped 10,000 people in a world of his own creation. I was suddenly much more worried about my friend's sudden disappearance.

**"As you can see, news organizations from across the world are reporting in on this incident and the many deaths. Thus, you can now assume that the danger of your NerveGear being removed to be greatly reduced. In a moment, using this time I have provided speaking with you, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So please relax and work hard to clear the game."**

Was this guy for real? He was arranging for all of us to be taken to hospitals? This was stupid, what the hell were we supposed to do now?

**"I ask of you all to understand that Sword Art Online is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality, from now on any and all forms of revival in the game will no longer work. The moment your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be gone forever. And at the same time your brain will be destroyed by the NerveGear."**

Shouts of outrage and fear rang out. Already people were beginning to understand the scope of what was before us.

**"You need to only fulfill one condition to set yourselves free. And that is to clear the game. You are currently on the 1st floor, the lowest level of Aincrad. Make your way through each dungeon and defeat the «Floor Boss». Once you defeat the «Floor Boss», you can advance to the next level. Defeat the Final Boss on the 100th floor, and you will clear the game. All players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game. I give you all my word."**

My fists tightened even further, a small tingle ran up my arms, I was probably clenching my hands so hard I was about to hurt myself.

**"And finally... in your inventories there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this."**

I quickly opened my inventory and saw a new item, «Mirror». Bringing the gift out I was once again bathed in light, and when i looked in the mirror my own face, my true face, shown back at me. My hair had shortened dramatically, coming to stop at the base of my neck. It had darkened a bit, taking on more of a dirty blond color than it's brilliant golden before. My eyes were darker, but still blue, and my features had softened slightly, giving me a rougher look. My mustache and goatee filled in, kept short.

Next to me a man in a pink and yellow kimono suddenly reddened and tried to cover himself. I snorted in laughter, I guess that would be happening quite a bit all over the plaza.

**"All of you must be wondering why. Why would Kayaba Akihiko creator of the NerveGear and Sword Art Online, do all this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us?"**

Good questions, though from the way this guy was talking the only thought I had was, 'Just how psycho are you?'.

**"None of these is the reason I am doing this. Not only that, but now for me, there is no longer a reason or a purpose in doing this. The reason is because… this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. I created my own world that I could observe and admire. This is why I made Sword Art Online. And now everything has been realized. This ends the tutorial for the official «Sword Art Online» launch. I wish every player the best of luck."**

It was as if someone threw a switch. People began screaming, many cried, and I already saw a few people slipping out of the plaza. I turned and sprinted down an alley. A man with red hair and stubble ran past me, heading back into the plaza. That was odd, who would be going back into that mess?

With a shrug and a push I activated my «Sprint» and took off, tearing out of the «Starting City» and heading for the second town, «Horunka Village». I knew that if I got there fast enough I could gather the quests and mobs needed to level up much faster. Part of me knew what I was doing was entirely selfish. However, a larger, much more practical part of me, wanted to live. I knew that to live I needed to be stronger, faster, and smarter than everyone else.


End file.
